


Premature Ignition

by xpunkstylesx



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-04
Updated: 2015-12-04
Packaged: 2018-05-04 20:40:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5347826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xpunkstylesx/pseuds/xpunkstylesx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>worldlwt au- Harry orders pink rims and Louis is the mechanic who installs them and he wasn't expecting such a cute guy at check out</p>
            </blockquote>





	Premature Ignition

“I’ll bet five dollars it’s for some rich guy’s sugar baby.”

“On a Range Rover? No way. It’s probably some snotty girl’s 18th birthday present.”

“Nah, you’re both wrong. It’s some woman going through her midlife crisis who’s trying to remain relevant.” Louis countered, smirking as he pulled away from the last bolt in the rim. He straightened, shook on the deal made with Mark and John, his two co-workers, and wiped his dirty cheek on his semi-clean jump-suit sleeve. In the meantime, they turned back to the Chevy they were fixing, once again silenced by the focus the car required.

Louis sighed, walking to the dim office in the corner of the garage shop, thinking of the real problems he was supposed to be facing. His roommate had just left, doubling his monthly rent. His garage shop was barely staying afloat, and his fiancee had unceremoniously dumped him when he realized how short he was on money. He had moved to Cheshire to find some good in life, but all he had encountered was debt and heartache.

He fell in his old swivel chair, cringing at the broken creak of it. He closed his eyes, willing it to stay in one piece, knowing he wouldn’t have enough money to replace it, and lightly smiled when it remained intact. He reached his fingers towards the computer mouse, the small room slightly illuminated by the low glow of the old Windows desktop, and resumed his search for a part time job, one that would raise more funds for his place and hopefully his business.

Time drawled on, the minute hand moving slower than usual, without any new finds. Every place that seemed viable was too far or wanted skills Louis simply didn’t have, like finishing high school. He was thankfully stopped from calling another dead end by whoever was ready to pick up the pink rims.

“I’ll get it!” Louis shouted, jumping out of his seat, thankful for any kind of distraction from the failure of a life he was faced with. He jogged to the front of the shop, stopping before the door at the small mirror to fix his hair and pull a smile on his face, knowing whatever chick was picking up the car would be convinced to leave a bigger tip with a smirk and a wink. After wiping a small stain from his blue jump-suit, he walked to the door, yanking it open, grin plastered to his face.

“Hello ma’am, you must be he-” Louis stopped short, shocked at the sight before him. A tall coat slowly turned towards him, finally stopping to reveal long curls and the greenest eyes he’d ever seen. But it wasn’t a ma’am. It was a sir.

“Hello.” He nodded politely, seemingly oblivious to having been referred to as a lady.

Louis replied with some difficulty, caught off guard by the handsome stranger, “My mistake, I thought you were the lady here for the pink rims. What can I do you for?”

A light smile tinged the mystery man’s lips, his next words coming out softly, “Would those pink rims belong to a Range Rover? Because those would indeed be mine.”

Louis gulped, scrambling for the right words, “I-I’m so sorry sir. Uh, please, follow me.”

Louis stumbled back in, cheeks flaming in embarrassment at his clumsiness. The tall man strode in confidently behind him, a ghost of a smile tinging his lips as he watched Louis.

The two guys in the Chevy stopped their quiet work, heads turning up in curiosity at the newcomer. Louis tried to ignore their questioning looks, only wanting to give the man his car and stop the nervous butterflies. They finally reached the car and Louis patted the hood, walking to the wall adjacent to it to grab the keys.

“You look- I mean, they look better than I thought they would.” The man muttered, pink tinging the tops of his cheeks at his slip.

Louis barely heard him, too concentrated on reaching over to give the keys to him. Then as the fingers brushed, he was careened to a different reality.

The mere brushing of indexes was enough to give Louis a taste of what life could be like with a man like that at his side, one that wasn’t scared of what he was, one whose green eyes would call him back home.

The moment was over as soon as it began, the racket of the keys hitting the floor making him jump back and turn to cough, hiding his red ears in the crease of his elbow. To distract himself, he spun around, walking to his office where he would try to ring up his customer as quickly as possible, wanting to get back to reality. The mystery man followed stumbling, too busy watching the garage boy rather than where his feet were going.

“S-So for the rims it’ll be 600 pounds even. Cash or card?”

He thrust his hands in his deep coat pockets, digging around for his wallet, “Card,” he finally replied, flourishing a shiny credit card.

Louis swiped it, knowing soon he would never see this man again, and tried to prolong the moment, messing up the online form a couple times in order to keep him waiting. But as all good things do, the time came when the man had to sign his receipt and leave, and although Louis had never wasted his time to do so, he got up and walked the customer out, making sure he was comfortable in his newly renovated car.

Just before climbing in, the man stopped, turning around abruptly, exclaiming, “I’m Harry by the way. Harry Styles!”

Louis’ mouth perked up, his legs bringing him closer to Harry before his mouth replied, “Louis Tomlinson.”

They shared a firm handshake, the spark returning to surge between the both of them. Harry pulled away first, lightly tugging his palm away before climbing his car and shutting the door, revving the engine. Louis watched him morosely, not wanting to watch him leave, and so opting to return inside, hoping to forget about him as quickly as he had discovered him. He had almost achieved his goal when he heard his name being called again.

Harry had stopped, his head out the window with a hand gesturing him to come closer, and Louis found another reason to waste time.

“So I have another car at home,” Harry began, as though testing the waters, before deciding to dive right in, “It’s an Audi, 2013 model. Lately, it’s been acting up. Could I bring it by for you to check it out?”

Louis nodded, shoving his hands in his pocket to hide the tremors. He watched Harry go, then turned on his heel to re-enter his office, happy in the knowledge they would be seeing each other again.

“So that guy with the pink rims really owns this car?” Mark asked, still in disbelief at the fact that a man could desire pink rims.

“For the umpteenth time, yes. Now will you let me get back to work?” Louis asked, head ducked under the hood of the 2013 Audi to see what was wrong with the engine.

“Yes, but let me just say, I think you two would make a great couple.” Upon hearing this, Louis peeked out, rolling his eyes and making a face at his stupid co-worker, all the while seeing the scenario unfold in his head.

“Yeah boss. Mark and I have a bet. So you better be the one to make the first move, because I have five bucks on you.” John shouted from across the small shop, laughter echoing behind his comment. Mark and Louis joined in, letting themselves get lost in a moment of glee among the hours they spent with their heads too far up other people’s cars.

Louis ducked back under, coming down from the laughter to only be met with the truth. Harry was just too clean, too rich, too beautiful, too _good_ for Louis that the closest they would ever get to a date would be what had happened the other day; Louis standing in his shop’s parking lot and watching Harry drive away.

Hours passed, and Louis got lost in the car. Admittedly, cars where his only life long love, and the only one that had thankfully worked out. It was only when the doorbell rang hours later that he finally yanked his head out, admiring his hard work. He wiped his hands on a dirty rag he had lying around, nodding when John said he was going to take care of the customer. Closing the hood, he sighed, knowing he would have to face the music now, and find more ways to fix his innumerable problems.

He was almost in his office when he heard the familiar drawl, “Hello Louis. They told me you’d have my car.”

Not expecting him, Louis’ hands began shaking again, digging deep into his pockets as he spun around, all the air falling out of his lungs as he beheld Harry again. He made to smile, but then caught a glance of another well-kept man behind him, which simply made him frown. He had come alone last time. Was this some kind of hint to stay away? Was it a taunt?

He cleared his throat, refusing to get lost in himself again, and gestured to the car, “Yeah, I just finished it.”

They walked over, Louis leading the pack, and Louis retrieved the keys from the wall again, suddenly ready to end the small meeting quickly, “So it’ll be 1000 pounds. I can check you out right away.”

“Can you now?” Harry turned from the car, smirking at Louis, who suddenly felt very small, which was something he never enjoyed. He watched Harry pop the hood, and irritation flooded him. It was as though Harry was playing a game, and it’s end purpose was to spite him completely. But no, it wasn’t going to be an easy win for Harry. Louis would make sure of that.

“So what was wrong with the car?” The well kept man Harry had dragged along asked, glazing over the engine with obvious disinterest.

“Well, your stroke was too short and you were getting premature ignition,” Louis smirked, glancing at Harry and asking, “You ever feel like that? Like the stroke is too short and there’s premature ignition?”

The ‘friend’ Harry had brought gulped, surprised at the insinuation. But Louis barely noticed. With his eyes fixed on Harry, his smirk deepened when he saw his cheeks tinge maroon, knowing he had accomplished his mission.

“Well, I-I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Harry stammered, trying to avoid Louis’ eyes but constantly being drawn back to them. Louis pulled away, walking to his office to ring up the car, glad that for once he had stood his ground.

“Cash or credit?” He asked when he heard Harry step in. A moment passed with no answer, so Louis looked up, confusion rippling through when he saw him writing something down on a piece of paper. Harry didn’t stop, not until he looked satisfied, and then dug around his large pockets again to produce the same shiny credit card. He gave the card to Louis without a word slipping past his soft lips.

Louis swiped it quietly, slowly feeling as though the room was losing oxygen. He gave the card back, careful to avoid contact, and watched him throw it carelessly back in the pocket whence it came. He expected Harry to leave immediately, for this to be the way they last saw each other, so was fairly shocked when he reached forward again with the piece of paper this time, letting it flutter to the small desk.

Once it landed, Harry nodded, a smirk painting his lips, and walked out, grabbing the other male and making his way outside.

Louis watched him go, making sure he had left before grabbing the paper, opening as though he was a man starving for words.

_I’ll pick you up at 7. Wear something nice._

_xx, Harry_

Louis felt laughter threatening to spill out of his mouth, so surprised he was by the note, but took a deep breath to calm himself. Once sufficiently steadied, he walked to the door of his office and peeked out, yelled, “Hey John, you owe Mark 5 bucks.”

**Author's Note:**

> I took the premature ignition joke from the movie I.Q., so it's not mine but the credit goes to them. All other parts were inspired by the beginning of that movie but my own original work. Thanks for reading though.


End file.
